Hamburgers for Breakfast
cinnamonfern
December 06, 2010, 10:27 AM posted in General DiscussionI have been watching this funny show produced out of China for helping people learn Chinese. Twice they have had the "American" character eating hamburgers for breakfast, which is so funny to me. I've never asked my friends what they think a typical American breakfast consists of, but according to this show, the stereotype appears to be "hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza".
Now it's true that college kids (and some older kids) will often eat cold pizza for breakfast, but this is not really an "authentic American breakfast"...and hamburgers? :D I've never had a hamburger for breakfast and I'm rather amused by the idea. Does anyone have any experiences with this?
I can't remember what I used to think Chinese people ate for breakfast, but I do remember being surprised when one friend told me he typically ate noodles. Not as surprised, though as when I found out my Korean friend's typical breakfast was kimchee and rice.
hkboy
Hi abelle,
Oh grits. I'm from the South but it's been a long time since I'ved there. Is it easy to find grits north of Washington DC? Sorry for the crazy question but seeing you talk about grits took me back in time.
zhenlijiang
Hi abelle, I think most Japanese will agree with me that bagels, grits, waffles, granola (maybe not bars specifically), fruit, eggs and bacon all fall squarely under our perception of typical American breakfast foods. Not hamburgers or hot dogs though! That is funny.
If I travel in the US breakfast is the meal I most look forward to. I'll stuff my face with eggs benedict / fluffy buttermilk pancakes / a fancy omelette / hash and toast, or hot cereal, plus fresh juice and fruit. And be full for the rest of the day.
abelle
This is just the Quaker Oats brand that he makes in a saucepan. Nothing fancy!
cinnamonfern
December 06, 2010, 11:10 AMI can't remember exactly, but can you buy a hamburger for breakfast at McDonald's in the States? I've only been gone three months and I can't remember. I think you can definitely buy a soft drink.
My favorite breakfast food is french toast. And I love eating it as dinner too. For some reason, while eating dinner food for breakfast seems strange, it doesn't strike me as being strange to eat breakfast food for dinner. I guess it's because Grandma made waffles and sausage every year for Christmas Eve dinner so it seemed normal.
abelle
cinnamonfern: I confess that usually on Friday evenings, we eat breakfast food for dinner-- because we have run out of our regular dinner fare like chicken, pasta, meatloaf, etc. Then on Saturday morning we buy our groceries for the week. Last Friday night we had eggs and waffles (frozen Aunt Jemima brand). I have a long day at school, a long commute, and lots of Chinese homework so I tell my family we have to make do with what we have. They are okay with that.
pretzellogic
December 06, 2010, 11:25 AMin a pinch, i've eaten these powdery breakfast substances sold in the local supermarket in Beijing for breakfast. I would rather have a hamburger than that. I've also had lumpy grits for breakfast. I would rather have a cold hamburger.
cinnamonfern
Powdery breakfast substance? Sounds revolting. What is it?
bodawei
Oh no, I'm going to have to step in and defend my eating habits, when pretzl mentioned this I was hoping that it would just be ignored. Okay, most mornings I eat a powdery breakfast substance - it is powdered corn. Just imagine someone taking the fresh product, drying it and making it into a powder. Beats doing it yourself.
Actually you can usually buy this self-same product at a drinks shop - along with your juices, milk drinks, slushies, and Chinese medicine brews of ground up turtle backs you will find your 玉米粉, or 玉米糊 yùmǐhú is the one I buy - and there are other terms (sorry just can't remember them at present). The 糊 describes the consistency it goes to after your add boiling water or hot milk (don't look it up). It's much better than it sounds.
cinnamonfern
It sounds just like corn meal. So you don't actually eat this in powder form (the image in my head)? Does it turn into a porridge or is it more like a soup?
pretzellogic
Bodawei made clear his preference for this food. So let me just say that the stuff i've tried, if indeed Bodawei and I are talking about the same thing, has had the "corn look and feel" processed out of it. It is a fine powder, (think baby powder or similiar) and was gray. You mix it with water to suit your tastes, so you can add a little water, stir it up, and it will be thick like paste, or add a lot, and it will be like soup. It did taste sweet. To me, this is in the category of "it takes getting used to". My daughters liked it, but once they tried pancakes, they stopped asking for this breakfast powder.
pretzellogic
Bodawei made clear his preference for this food. So let me just say that the stuff i've tried, if indeed Bodawei and I are talking about the same thing, has had the "corn look and feel" processed out of it. It is a fine powder, (think baby powder or similiar) and was gray. You mix it with water to suit your tastes, so you can add a little water, stir it up, and it will be thick like paste, or add a lot, and it will be like soup. It did taste sweet. To me, this is in the category of "it takes getting used to". My daughters liked it, but once they tried pancakes, they stopped asking for this breakfast powder.
cinnamonfern
I just looked up some pictures of 玉米粉 and 玉米糊. It seems that 玉米粉 is just finely ground corn flour. 玉米糊 looks like yellow cream of wheat...which is basically what it sounds like it is, with corn instead of wheat. So it's kind of like grits, but smoother? (Keep in mind, I have never eaten grits.) I think I'd rather have corn bread (玉米面包?） or a Chinese pancake.
bodawei
Ok, Pretzl is right about everything except the colour - the corn stuff is definitely yellow. You can get other stuff like 藕粉 that is grey. And sweet is an option (sugar added) but we buy the unsweetened version. And add yoghurt, fruit etc. There is no difference in consistency between 玉米粉 and 玉米糊; it's a question of how much liquid you add (as Pretzl said.)
Now - corn bread is either 玉米馒头 (yùmǐmántou) or 玉米窝头 (yùmǐwōtóu) . Also 玉米窝窝头. There is a slight difference in the shape - the 窝头 is more 'head' shaped, with a little curl on top, the 馒头 is rounded.
I am sure you can have a 用玉米面做的面包 - but I have never seen them referred to that way.
Even more interesting though, in Yunnan we have a number of traditional pancakes - these are not Western imitations, they are in the local culture. Though not solely eaten for breakfast - also lunch and dinner. For instance, 荞麦饼 (made with pure buckwheat - these are the size and shape of Western pancakes, often served with a sweet topping)，玉米饼 (pure corn)， 南瓜饼 (pumpkin pancake - actually these are rounder, rather than the Western pancake shape)。 All three are gluten free by the way.
cinnamonfern
When I mentioned the 玉米面包 earlier I was actually referring to the western-style corn bread that I love to make and eat. I didn't realize that they made steamed bread from corn flour in China - but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. :)
pretzellogic
now that it's been determined that you guys are talking about something like grits, can I go back to talking about "breakfast gruel" as something different? ;-) Or is someone else a fan, and I should pretend to be a mature adult?
Although I'm not a fan of grits either, but maybe this is because grits are so easy to screw up. I have eaten screwed up grits, and then had to pretend they were edible....
bodawei
December 06, 2010, 01:40 PMBy the way, you shouldn't be surprised by what your Korean friend told you - my impression in Korea was that they eat the same things three times a day. :) Just a little more soup at breakfast than at the other meals.
cinnamonfern
Oh, I'm not surprised anymore. After knowing many more Koreans, this seems fairly normal to me...well, for Koreans that is. I still have no strong desire to have kimchee for breakfast.
zhenlijiang
December 06, 2010, 06:14 PMKorean breakfast in a bitter-cold winter weekend in Seoul was delish. This included the best kimchee I ever had, at a neighborhood sullung tang (beef knucklebone soup) place. The next day, samgye tang (ginseng chicken soup) for brunch--mmmm! Korean comfort food is addictive. Those people really know how to cook.
If I'm not preparing it myself, I'll have pretty much anything for breakfast, with the exception of sushi and sashimi (我是日本人). Sushi is not a breakfast food. It should not be consumed first thing in the day, that's just wrong! And as I was looking at this thread and thinking that, what should come up on the TV news but a trend--people in Tokyo now having conventionally non-breakfast things for breakfast on their way to work, such as sushi (how can a good Japanese??) and 拉面 ラーメン ramen noodles.
Cinnamonfern, I just tried googling for images under "Japanese breakfast" "Korean breakfast" "American breakfast" "Chinese breakfast" and comparing--fascinating! Do try it, if you haven't already.
cinnamonfern
You are making me hungry! Stop that! :) I love Korean food...now I need to find a good restaurant here.
Googling those images is interesting! Mmm...the American breakfasts look so tasty. It is difficult to determine exactly what all the foods are for the different searches. So according to google images, a Chinese breakfast is: youtiao [油条], xiaolongbao [小笼包] (really?), baozi [包子], mantou [馒头], soup [汤], green onion pancakes [葱花饼], eggs [鸡蛋？- I don't know if there is a different word for cooked eggs], congee [米粥？], and many other things.
One morning I ate breakfast in the cafeteria here in Hong Kong - (normally I just get some bread and a coffee). They served breakfast with eggs, meat, toast and vegetables - a little different than the U.S., but not much. I decided to get the congee too. However I wasn't expecting it to have dried seafood in it. Blame it on my Midwestern heritage, but I really don't think seafood and breakfast should go together. I guess I might have some troubles in Japan?
abelle
December 06, 2010, 10:52 AMFrom my experience and observations (I live outside Washington DC), there is no "typical" breakfast. Everyone eats something different. I usually have a bagel while my husband has hot cereal such as grits. My son, where he was living here, usually had waffles or cereal. Now that he is away at college, I have no idea what he has for breakfast! My 16-year-old daughter has a granola bar and if she has time, part of an apple. When I was visiting my brother and his family, I saw that they actually had time to cook eggs and bacon. Many people don't even have breakfast at home. They'll stop at McDonald's or Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, or eat at the company's cafeteria when they get to work. Who knows, maybe somebody does actually get a hamburger at McDonald?!